Valentine Vignettes
by Todash
Summary: Just in time for Valentine’s Day, a collection of 100-word drabbles of love and romance. Some are post-war; all are slash: B.J./Hawkeye.
1. Valentine's Day

**Valentine's Day****  
**  
There's a single red rose on his cot when he returns from the mess tent. It takes him a minute to remember it's Valentine's Day, and then he gets this kooky, cocky grin on his face as he ponders… "Was it Nurse Robinson? Baker? Thompson?"

B.J. listens without comment, a secret behind his sparkling eyes.

"It was Bigelow!" Hawkeye exclaims, suddenly sure. He takes a whiff of the flower and heads out. "I'm off to have a romantic Valentine's Day celebration. Don't wait up for me, Beej."

B.J. watches him go. "It wasn't Bigelow," he whispers to the empty tent.


	2. The Most Powerful Drug

**The Most Powerful Drug**

Hawkeye loves words. He loves to play with them (_My whites are covered with red and it gives me the blues_)… he delights in learning more of them (_I like to read the dictionary_)… he creates his own (_Boronus, boretis, boremus; I came, I saw, I bored_).

He does crosswords, he makes puns, he finds seven different ways of saying the same thing.

He _adores_ words. But until now, he'd never known that there were words that could so utterly blow him away.

Eventually he finds his voice. "Could you repeat that?"

B.J.'s grin broadens. "I said, I love you."

-------

_(Author's Note: The title is a reference to the Rudyard Kipling quote, "Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.")_


	3. Realization

**Realization****  
**  
A hotel room in Seoul. Laughter and kissing… clothing tossed aside… fingers learning the right places to touch.

B.J. wonders how this happened. Why he accepted it as inevitable, fated… _right_.

Then he hears the whisper of "Beej" at his ear, and he shudders, understanding that love should not be concealed or limited or even defined. It should just _be_.

He smiles, the realization bringing him peace. There's so much wrong in the world, but he himself has never felt so right.

He never dreamed he'd find himself in another man's arms.

He never imagined he'd lose himself so completely.


	4. Make It Stop

**Make It Stop**

He talks about pain a lot. It struck B.J. as odd in the beginning, before he understood who this man was.

"Do you hear them screaming in pain? I hear it in my sleep. It seeps into my dreams."

He seems to _feel_ it, too… as if it were _his_ body that was injured, maimed, bleeding. It's as if he doesn't realize that he's the one who fixes, not the one who gets hurt or the one who does the hurting.

"Hold me, Beej," he pleads. "When you hold me, it keeps away the pain."

And so B.J. holds him.


	5. Ever After

**Ever After**

B.J.'s eyes skimmed the letter a second time.

"I'm sorry, Beej." Hawkeye was watching him closely.

"For what?"

"I just feel like I should apologize here. You were supposed to have the storybook life, the kind of life everyone dreams about. You and your princess were supposed to get the happily ever after."

B.J. tilted his head, his eyes searching Hawkeye's. "I don't have any regrets, Hawk." He smiled, his expression tender. "And I _did_ get my happily ever after. With my prince."

He reached out and pulled Hawkeye into an embrace, dropping the divorce decree onto the kitchen table.


	6. Winter Wonderland

**Winter Wonderland****  
**  
Hawkeye watched as B.J. made a snow angel on the front lawn of his dad's house. "Aren't you a little old for that?" he asked with a grin. "And anyway, whoever heard of a 6-foot-4 angel? They're supposed to be petite."

"Shut up, Hawk, and get down here next to me."

"Now why would I want to do that?"

"Because I asked?"

Sighing, Hawkeye sprawled out on the ground at B.J.'s side. "Now what?"

"I always wanted to know what it was like to make out in the snow," B.J. said, leaning over and helping himself to a kiss.


	7. Let It Snow

**Let It Snow****  
**  
_Thwap!_ The snowball hit Hawkeye in the ass. He turned to see B.J. readying another.

"Hey fella, drop that right now! I am _not_ gonna get into a snowball fight with you. It's too cold—" The second snowball hit him in the chest. "That does it!" And he bent down to make one of his own.

That was when B.J. tackled him, both of them landing hard on the snowy ground, grunting then laughing. There was no snowball fight, just long, wet kisses… and later hot chocolate in bed… and later still, warm lovemaking while the snow continued falling outside.


	8. Two Dads

**Two Dads**

_(A double drabble this time… 200 words exactly)_

--------

Erin's trying to keep her composure, but B.J. can see she's terribly upset. He puts an arm around her. "What is it, darlin'?"

"Janie Bruning at school today said that I'm not normal because I have two dads. She said nobody gets more than one dad."

"Janie Bruning just doesn't understand that we have a special family, that's all. It's not something that most people can relate to, but that doesn't mean it's wrong."

"I told her I love both my dads. And then I hit her."

Hawkeye bursts into laughter and B.J. manages to suppress a similar outburst. "Erin," he says, trying to sound serious even though his daughter's declaration that she hit bratty Janie Bruning is the funniest thing he's heard today, "we don't solve anything by resorting to violence. Please don't go around hitting people. It's not the way young ladies should behave, understand?"

Erin looks properly contrite. "Yes."

"If people tell you there's something weird about having two dads, you just tell them you get twice the fatherly love. OK?"

She nods, looking reassured. "OK, Daddy."

"And to hell with Janie Bruning," Hawkeye interjects.

Which is when B.J. realizes he has another family member to lecture.


	9. Happy 20th

**Happy 20th****  
**  
They celebrate 20 years together by going to the Top of the Mark. Nursing drinks, they stare at each other through candlelight, and B.J. feels warmth blanket him.

"Are you happy, Hawk?" he asks, meaning not just tonight, but in general. Their life together hasn't always been easy.

Hawkeye takes his hand. "The past 20 years have given me nothing but joy." He stands. "C'mon, dance with me." They join the other couples on the floor and their arms go around one another. People stare at them and whisper, but B.J.'s unaware of everything except the smile on Hawkeye's face.


End file.
